Star Trek first hit the airwaves on September 8, 1966, and ran for three seasons/79 episodes. However, the franchise has been going strong for 60 years, with dozens of films and TV series that spawned off from The Original Series. Star Trek took viewers to strange new worlds and made alien races like Klingons and Vulcans, and phrases like “beam me up” and “set phasers to stun” part of the regular lexicon, even for those who aren’t necessarily sci-fi nerds.

The Original Series follows the adventures of the crew of the starship USS Enterprise, which is on a five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where no man has gone before. Heading up this mission is commanding officer Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), and by his side is First Officer/Science Officer Commander Spock (Leonard Nimoy), a half-human/half-Vulcan who acts more out of logic and reasoning than emotions. Keeping the crew healthy are Chief Medical Officer Leonard H. “Bones” McCoy (DeForest Kelley) and Nurse Christine Chapel (Majel Barrett). Keeping the ship healthy and running is Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Montgomery “Scotty” Scott (James Doohan). And assisting on the bridge are Communications Officer Lieutenant Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Helsman Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu (George Takei), and (starting in season 2) Russian-born navigator Ensign Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig).

While I have seen all of the Star Trek films, and some of the other TV shows that followed, I hadn’t really watched The Original Series that started it all. When I received this 60th Anniversary box set, I was excited to get the chance to go back and see how this phenomenon started. Right from the first episode, I was quite impressed. This release includes the restored and remastered episodes, which can be viewed either with or without newly-enhanced visual effects (new as of the original Blu-ray release, not new to this 60th Anniversary edition). The episodes look and sound phenomenal. The show does not look 60 years old. If not for the Full Frame aspect ratio, this could easily be a series that was created today. The picture looks highly-detailed with bold, beautiful colors, and the modern visual effects are a vast improvement over the original. The sound has also been given a big upgrade, going from a mono track to a 7.1 surround track. The re-recorded score sounds wonderful, and the rest of the audio has a much fuller and immersive feel, such as the roar of the ship’s engines, or when alarms start blaring, or the barrage of missiles that whiz across the screen as Kirk and his crew arrive on Cestus III in the Gorn episode, “Arena”. These visual and audio enhancements bring this series set in the 23rd Century into the 21st Century.

The cast is wonderful and have great chemistry with one another. The various relationships, interactions and character traits are defined early on, though characters are also allowed to develop over the course of the series. The topics and storylines still hold up really well, and feel just as relevant as ever. Star Trek has this great blend of action, adventure, character drama, sci-fi, social commentary, and even humor. It’s a visionary show that was well ahead of its time, influencing many of the sci-fi ideas that are so common in today’s TV shows and movies. It proves that sci-fi can be thought-provoking as well as entertaining, and push boundaries.

Star Trek: The Original Series first found its way onto Blu-ray in 2009 with the release of the first remastered season, and was re-released as a Complete Series set in 2021. For the show’s 60th Anniversary, CBS/Paramount Home Entertainment and Alliance Home Entertainment have re-released the complete series in new commemorative packaging on Blu-ray and DVD, as well as a special Amazon Exclusive Blu-ray Gift Set, which includes deluxe collector packaging, a curated set of limited-edition lobby cards, a collectible logo reveal, and an exclusive 4″ Tiny Vinyl record.

We were sent the standard 60th Anniversary Blu-ray release for review. The series is split across 20 discs, which are placed stacked and overlapping on plastic trays in a 2-inch thick clear plastic case, which is DVD height. This is covered with a glossy carboard sleeve. While the discs themselves are now labeled “60th Anniversary”, the content of the discs is actually identical to the earlier releases, including all 79 episodes with and without previously enhanced visual effects, and the same extensive collection of bonus material. Oddly, there’s no Play All option on these discs—binging must not yet have been a prevalent thing at the time the discs were first authored for Blu-ray! As mentioned earlier, the show looks and sounds amazing. While no new bonus material was created for this 60th Anniversary release, it still contains many hours of excellent previously-released bonus material for fans to enjoy—from behind-the-scenes and retrospective featurettes, to picture-in-picture and commentary tracks, to the Tribble-related episodes from The Animated Series and Deep Space Nine, and more.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (67 hr 42 min)

Blu-ray:
• All 3 seasons/79 episodes of the series on 20 discs.
  • Season 1 (1966–67) – 7 discs – 29 episodes: (1465 min)
    “The Man Trap”, “Charlie X”, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, “The Naked Time”, “The Enemy Within”, “Mudd’s Women”, “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”, “Miri”, “Dagger of the Mind”, “The Corbomite Maneuver”, “The Menagerie”, “The Conscience of the King”, “Balance of Terror”, “Shore Leave”, “The Galileo Seven”, “The Squire of Gothos”, “Arena”, “Tomorrow Is Yesterday”, “Court Martial”, “The Return of the Archons”, “Space Seed”, “A Taste of Armageddon”, “This Side of Paradise”, “The Devil in the Dark”, “Errand of Mercy”, “The Alternative Factor”, “The City on the Edge of Forever”, “Operation – Annihilate!””
  • Season 2 (1967–68) – 7 Discs – 26 episodes: (1314 min)
    “Amok Time”, “Who Mourns for Adonais?”, “The Changeling”, “Mirror, Mirror”, “The Apple”, “The Doomsday Machine”, “Catspaw”, “I, Mudd”, “Metamorphosis”, “Journey to Babel”, “Friday’s Child”, “The Deadly Years”, “Obsession”, “Wolf in the Fold”, “The Trouble with Tribbles”, “The Gamesters of Triskelion”, “A Piece of the Action”, “The Immunity Syndrome”, “A Private Little War”, “Return to Tomorrow”, “Patterns of Force”, “By Any Other Name”, “The Omega Glory”, “The Ultimate Computer”, “Bread and Circuses”, “Assignment: Earth”
  • Season 3 (1968–69) – 6 discs – 24 episodes: (1283 min)
    “Spock’s Brain”, “The Enterprise Incident”, “The Paradise Syndrome”, “And the Children Shall Lead”, “Is There in Truth No Beauty?”, “Spectre of the Gun”, “Day of the Dove”, “For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky”, “The Tholian Web”, “Plato’s Stepchildren”, “Wink of an Eye”, “The Empath”, “Elaan of Troyius”, “Whom Gods Destroy”, “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”, “The Mark of Gideon”, “That Which Survives”, “The Lights of Zetar”, “Requiem for Methuselah”, “The Way to Eden”, “The Cloud Minders”, “The Savage Curtain”, “All Our Yesterdays”, “Turnabout Intruder”
• 1080p / Full Frame 1.33:1
• Episodes can be viewed with or without the Enhanced Effects
• Audio: English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Original 2.0 Dolby Digital Mono, French 2.0 Dolby Digital Mono, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital Mono
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French, Portuguese

Extras:
The discs are identical to those from the previous Blu-ray releases, and contain the same bonus material.

• Season One
  • Starfleet Access
    “This feature grants you security clearance to explore Starfleet Command’s database.” Several episodes include an option to watch with a picture-in-picture track that contains pop-up facts, and interviews with producers, writers, historians, authors, actors and more as they discuss various aspects of the story, props, characters, score, special effects, etc. These provide some interesting behind-the-scenes stories and facts about the making of the series. Select from:
    • “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (50:34)
    • “The Menagerie, Part 1” (49:33)
    • “The Menagerie, Part 2” (50:24)
    • “The Balance of Terror” (50:32)
    • “Space Seed” (50:31)
    • “Errand of Mercy” (50:31)
  • Spacelift: Transporting Trek Into the 21st Century (20:10)
    A look into the extensive process of digitally remastering the series, from cleaning up and fixing defects in the picture, to re-recording the score and upgrading the audio and modernizing the visual effects.
  • Previews
    One-minute previews for each episode of the season. These are found on the discs with the related episodes.
  • 2009 Theatrical Trailer (2:08)
    Presented in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese (subtitles only) and Spanish.
  • Reflections on Spock (12:03)
    Recorded on December 9, 2003, actor Leonard Nimoy discusses his character, and how Spock and Star Trek affected his career.
  • Life Beyond Trek: William Shatner (10:18)
    Recorded on October 14, 2003, actor William Shatner discusses his love of horseback-riding and working with competition horses.
  • “To Boldly Go…” Season One (18:52)
    Recorded in 2003 & 2994, the cast and crew discuss the history and legacy of the series, and share some behind-the-scenes stories about making the first season.
  • The Birth of a Timeless Legacy (24:07)
    Recorded in 2003 & 2994, the cast and crew discuss how the series came about, and the how the show evolved between the series’ two very different pilot episodes. Also includes some 1988 interview footage with Gene Roddenberry.
  • Sci-Fi Visionaries (16:30)
    Recorded in 2003 & 2994, the cast and crew discuss what makes good science fiction, and the creative concepts explored in specific first season episodes. Also includes some 1988 interview footage with Gene Roddenberry.
  • Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories (13:23)
    Actor Billy Blackburn talks about the various small roles he played on the series, and shares behind-the-scenes stories and home video footage from the set.
  • Kiss ‘N’ Tell: Romance in the 23rd Century (8:24)
    Recorded in 2003 & 2994, the cast and crew discuss the various romances on the series.
  • Enhanced Visual Effects Credits (:30)
  • Interactive Enterprise Inspection (BD Live)
    I could not get the BD Live features to work on either BD player I tried. I’m not sure if the BD Live server is no longer active. This is supposed to be an interactive tour of the Enterprise.
• Season Two
  • Starfleet Access
    “This feature grants you security clearance to explore Starfleet Command’s database.” Several episodes include an option to watch with a picture-in-picture track that includes pop-up facts and interviews with producers, writers, historians, authors, actors and more as they discuss various aspects of the story, props, characters, score, special effects ad more. These provide some nice behind-the-scenes stories about the making of the series. Select from:
    • “Amok Time” (50:31)
    • “The Trouble With Tribbles” (50:43)
  • Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories Part 2 (12:07)
    More behind-the-scenes stories and home video footage from the set for season two from actor Billy Blackburn.
  • Previews
    One-minute previews for each episode of the season. These are found on the discs with the related episodes.
  • Commentary Track – “The Trouble With Tribbles” (50:43)
    Episode writer David Gerrold provides an entertaining and informative commentary track for the “The Trouble With Tribbles” episode.
  • “More Tribbles, More Troubles” (Star Trek Animated Ep. #1) (24:13)
    Intergalactic trader Cyrano Jones and his Tribbles are back in this episode from Star Trek: The Animated Series, with optional commentary by writer David Gerrold.
  • “Trials and Tribble-ations” (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Ep. #503) (45:30)
    The Defiant accidentally goes back in time 200 light years and ends up crossing paths with the crew of the Enterprise during its Tribble situation in this episode from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
  • Trials and Tribble-ations: Uniting Two Legends (16:53)
    In interviews from 1996 and 2002, the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine cast and crew discuss the genesis of he crossover episode.
  • Trials and Tribble-ations: An Historic Endeavor (16:32)
    In interviews from 1996 and 2002, the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine cast and crew discuss the sets and special effects used to put the DS9 characters into the TOS episode.
  • Star Trek: TOS on Blu-ray (10:04)
    Writer Marc Zicree (Star Trek The Next Generation) moderates a panel with visual effects supervisor Niel R. Wray, visual effects producers Denise Okuda, Michael Okuda & Dave Rossi, and writer David Gerrold, who discuss the remastered Blu-ray set and the enhanced visual effects that were added.
  • “To Boldly Go…” Season Two (19:32)
    Recorded in 2003 & 2994, the cast and crew discuss the “Trouble with Tribbles” episode and share behind-the-scenes stories about making the second season. Also includes some interviews from 1996 (from around the time of the DS9 Tribbles episode).
  • Designing the Final Frontier (22:19)
    In interviews that range from 2001-2004, art director Matt Jefferies and other members of the crew discuss the show’s set designs, share behind-the-scenes stories, and compare the original sketches to the final product.
  • Star Trek‘s Favorite Moments (17:10)
    Recorded across 2002-2004, various Star Trek franchise cast, crew and fans discuss what made them fall in love with Star Trek and their favorite moments and episodes from the series.
  • Writer’s Notebook: D.C. Fontana (7:35)
    Recorded in 2003, story editor/writer D.C. Fontana discusses some of the episodes she worked on, and the role of the writer, editor, and script supervisor.
  • Life Beyond Trek: Leonard Nimoy (12:12)
    Recorded in 2003, actor Leonard Nimoy talks about his passion for photography, and other things he’s been working on since Star Trek.
  • Kirk, Spock, & Bones: Star Trek‘s Great Trio (7:10)
    In interviews from 2003-2024, the cast and crew look back at the chemistry between this trio of characters/actors.
  • Star Trek’s Divine Diva: Nichelle Nichols (13:04)
    Recorded in 2003, actress Nichelle Nichols looks back on her character Uhura and working on the series.
  • Enhanced Visual Effects Credits (:30)
• Season Three
  • Previews
    One-minute previews for each episode of the season. These are found on the discs with the related episodes.
  • Life Beyond Trek: Walter Koenig (10:49)
    Recorded in 2003, actor Walter Koenig looks back on his role as Chekov, and talks about how it changed his career.
  • Chief Engineer’s Log (6:02)
    Recorded in 2003, actor James Doohan looks back on his role as Scotty.
  • Memoir From Mr. Sulu (8:33)
    Recorded in 2004, actor George Takei looks back on his role as Sulu and how it has influenced every area of his life, the Japanese-American experience, and more.
  • Captain’s Log: Bob Justman (9:35)
    The cast and crew recount stories of working with longtime series producer Robert H. Justman. Includes footage from the last recorded interview with Justman.
  • “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (Rare and Unaired Alternate Version) (52:22)
    This alternate version of the show’s second pilot episode opens with scrolling text setting up the history of the series and its various pilots. This version of the episode contains a never before released prologue, an alternate main title sequence, and 1960’s style act breaks.
  • David Gerrold Hosts “2009 Convention Coverage” (19:25)
    Writer David Gerrold (“The Trouble With Tribbles”) walks the convention floor, interviewing various Star Trek actors and fans in costumes.
  • “The Anthropology of Star Trek” Comic-Con Panel 2009 (4:14)
    Footage from a panel featuring Anthropology Professor Daryl G. Frazetti (Lake Tahoe Community College).
  • “The World of Rod Roddenberry” Comic-Con 2009 (7:14)
    Writer David Gerrold provides an introduction before these clips from a panel featuring Gene Roddenberry’s son Rod.
  • Blackburn’s Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories Part 3 (10:53)
    More behind-the-scenes stories and home video footage from the set for season three from actor Billy Blackburn.
  • “To Boldly Go…” Season Three (22:28)
    Recorded in 2003 & 2994, the cast and crew discuss the show’s final season.
  • Collectible Trek (14:21)
    Star Trek archivist Penny Juday and others talk about collectors and memorabilia from the series.
  • Star Trek’s Impact (8:54)
    Recorded in 2004, Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry talks about the series and the impact it has had on his life.

Final Thoughts:

Star Trek: The Original Series – 60th Anniversary Edition is a repackaging of the previously-released Blu-ray discs for the series, so there is no need for those who already own the series to double-dip—you’re just getting new outer packaging (unless you also want the collectible items included in the Amazon-Exclusive gift set). But if you don’t already own the Complete Series on Blu-ray, this is definitely worth picking up!. The original Star Trek series was groundbreaking for its time, and still holds up really well today. The series looks phenomenal in its restored and enhanced form, and for purists, this release also offers the ability to watch the episodes without the enhanced visual effects (just the restoration) and with the original mono audio. There was no new bonus material created specifically for this release, but it does include the hours of previously-released extras that are sure to keep any fan busy. Star Trek: The Original Series – 60th Anniversary Edition comes highly recommended and is certainly worth picking up for any current or future Trek fan!